Employer Law Blog

A slew of new laws went into effect on January 1 in Illinois. Below are key labor and employment laws: SB3163 creates the Illinois Freedom to Work Act providing that no employer may enter into a covenant not to compete with any low-wage employee. Low-wage employee is defined as a wage earner making the greater of the applicable minimum wage or $13.00 per hour. HB3554 directs the Illinois Department of Labor to search for employees who have been harmed by unpaid wages so they may recover what they are owed.

On May 22, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in a case presenting an FMLA claim that a 14-hour hospital stay did not qualify as an “overnight” stay in order to provide the employee with protection under the FMLA.